The elements are not always kind to Greater Port Arthur, with wind and rain and snow and a hard freeze making their impacts felt here.

A week with lows in the 20s reminded us that we are no Northerners. Our blood runs warm and temperatures out of the temperate zones are flat out uncomfortable.

We all felt the chill in these parts this week but some felt it worse than others. Our conversation with an Army veteran who said he’s been homeless and living outdoors in Port Arthur since Hurricane and Tropical Storm reminded us of that harsh reality.

He says he lost his trailer and possessions in those warm months, leaving him with few options come January but to hunker down.

He’s not alone in his misfortune. Some 60 homeless people, many of them veterans, have taken on the hard freeze with few resources, mostly those afforded them by the generosity of a downtown church with a dedication for serving the destitute.

His story is not that unusual, not when we consider how the poor sometimes interact with others. Why can’t he get help from the federal government? From the Veterans Administration? From the Red Cross?

Most churches and social agencies that serve the poor readily recognize that the poor sometimes struggle to find reliable information, to discern that information when they find it and to navigate the maze that might await them when they are seeking “official” help. It’s never as easy as others might think.

Like the poor among us, the middle class, too, can struggle during these remarkable post-flood days. In Port Neches, the government did people there a good turn when they extended by six months the permitted period for living in travel trailers while residents await home repairs.

If Port Neches seems a tony place for travel trailer residents, consider that much of the housing in Greater Port Arthur was adversely affected by the flood, that the damage was of degree, not kind. Everyone knows someone who is struggling with housing issues.

Around this county, people wait for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance, for insurance checks, for the availability of housing, for reliable trades people to make repairs. These are extraordinary times and Greater Port Arthur people are weighing extraordinary decisions.

That’s why we would do well to consider the financial hardships and personal pressures that many people here face these days: people who were without the right insurance or who lived on the shallow end of streets that had never flooded before.

There were narrow margins between many of those who weathered the storm unscathed and many of those who seemingly lost everything.

Be kind to those who struggle. There’s a long road before us.