And yet, the pundits have largely given up on casting blame for the disaster — with a few exceptions, of course. And the reason is simple: The example set by both Houston’s leaders and its people has been too inspiring.

Houston has always been underrated. It’s the energy capital of the United States, the most international metropolitan area in the country and, as we’ve all now seen, the kind of place where hundreds of people will naturally respond to a major catastrophe by, for example, rescuing random strangers, using their rowboats.

The images of them doing so — like this one, by The Houston Chronicle’s Melissa Phillip — will linger in the collective memory, even after the waters recede. So too will the stories of the Houstonians who found other ways to help, like Mattress Mack, birth name Jim McIngvale, who turned his two stores into temporary shelters, or the workers who were trapped for two days at El Bolilla, and passed the time by baking, so they could help feed everyone else.