It’s time for all to pitch in to rebuild

Time to put away the balance sheets. Everyone is a first responder now.

Police officers, firefighters and professional rescuers are risking their lives to save those in need, whether trapped in rising flood waters or in distress. Government employees and volunteers are setting up safe havens for those who have nowhere else to go. Utility crews are fighting to keep the lights on and refrigerators running. All of this is important work.

None of it, though, absolves business people from doing their part. Those who profit during the good times have an obligation to give back during the bad.

Most businesses are rightfully telling their employees to stay home, or at least find a safe place, with their loved ones. Houston’s refining and petrochemical facilities shutdown to prevent any chance of an accident that could worsen the crisis.

That is the least they can do.

Responsible bosses go a step further and contact each employee to learn what they need, and if the business owner can’t help, he or she should at least help their employee get the services they need. After all, preventing someone from needing emergency assistance is far more valuable than saving their life after the situation deteriorates.

The unsung heroes,

though, are the businesses that move heaven and earth to provide essential services to the community. And frankly, it is hard for these leaders to balance providing food and fuel to the public with the safety and needs of their employees.

Grocery stores and gas stations are critical lifelines in a natural disaster. Americans are spoiled by 24/7 access to fresh food and they rarely stockpile enough for a crisis like Hurricane Harvey, the worst storm to every hit the city.

Most Houston-area grocery and gasoline chains understand their role in helping the community pick itself back up. Not long ago I wrote a column about how H.E.B and Buc-ee’s were installing natural gas generator sets at Gulf Coast locations to operate indefinitely during an emergency. Those management teams deserve credit for spending serious money to remain open at times like this.

The staff that stock the shelves, the truck drivers delivering goods and the forklift drivers loading those trucks with food and water are unsung heroes. We expect them to leave their loved ones and report to work so that we can resupply, and we should be grateful.

The same goes for hoteliers, who keep their doors open to those stranded, or for people whose homes are no longer habitable. Keeping the lights on, the front desk staffed and housekeepers available is no small task.

Last but not least, a special shout-out to the restaurants that open to feed the first responders, emergency workers, volunteers, journalists and everyone else who is out there doing their part to maintain our community.

Because that is what’s important right now: community. The rain falls on all of us, and when the waters rise, they flood all of us. Rich or poor, management or labor, the floods are taking a toll on everyone.

Too often we divide our world into separate lanes: family, friends, work, government. Times like these remind us that all parts of our lives are interconnected and interdependent. That during a crisis, no one gets to lean back and let somebody else solve the world’s problem.

The word community comes from a Latin root, “com,” which means “together.” We do well when we remember that “com” is also the root of commerce, which means to “trade together.”

To have commerce you must have community.

As the old adage about family goes, “You don’t have to like each other, but you have to love one another.” All of us should feel that way all of the time, but especially now.

We are in this together, and each must do our part.

In the days ahead, the waters will recede, and we’ll measure the full scale of the destruction Harvey has wrought. Families will have lost loved ones. Tens of thousands will have lost automobiles and suffered property damage for which they have no insurance or cash to cover the losses.

Schools will struggle to reopen. Employees expecting their kids to go back to school this week will need to figure out how to look after them.

Business will have lost buildings, inventory or both. Some will never recover, but most will rebuild stronger. In time.

Houstonians have proven their mettle time and again, and I’m sure the days ahead will be no different. But after the city’s worst storm on record, and possibly the largest disaster in Texas history, business people need to push themselves to do more than they ever have before, to give until it’s uncomfortable and reconsider what’s really important in their lives and the lives of their employees.

Make no mistake, everyone needs to be a hero now in their own way.

Chris Tomlinson is the Chronicle’s business columnist. chris. tomlinson@chron.com twitter.com/cltomlinson www.houstonchronicle.com/ author/chris-tomlinson