Where are these People From?

People go to Paris
return with French cheeses
bring excitement to others at parties.

People called “working poor“
have never been to Paris
and wish for a first vacation.

People live in gated communities
where each person or car is stopped
and a guard calls for permission for entry.

People move into apartments
with bed bugs and a robbery
welcoming them to the neighborhood.

People stay friends for decades
and share intimately their lives
until one of them dies.

People go through life
unable to find even one true friend,
get used and abused trying.

People marry childhood sweethearts
and go through forty years
feeling like they fell in love yesterday.

People marry and discover
that their spouses take their children
to satanic cults where they are abused.

People go to college to study what they love,
find careers that satisfy them for decades
until they retire with healthy pensions and benefits.

People spend years in minimum wage jobs
in workplaces where they are unappreciated
job after job after job.

People have drawers full of underwear
so they can wear new sets every day
and never have to launder them.

People buy everything at thrift shops
and only once in a while feel lucky
to wear a new piece of underwear.

People order homemade gourmet meals
that get delivered once a week
so they never have to shop or cook to eat.

People get most of their food at banks
or daily trips to soup kitchens
so they never know what they’ll eat each day.

Some people eat steaks, chops and shellfish
every single day at least once
and always leave each meal satisfied.

Some people get fat eating free and cheap food,
rarely eat first-generation meat or fruit
and never seem to ever feel full.

People eat every meal out
in the best delis and restaurants
and never, ever take home doggie bags.

People rarely buy their meals out
and when they treat themselves,
they do it on the cheapest cheap.

People get a current model car every year,
keep their gas tanks topped
and rarely pay an auto repair shop.

People drive old model cars
with fenders duct-taped on
and never have over three gallons of gas.

People get weeks of paid vacation
and travel three or four times a year
to exclusive, exotic, expensive places.

People wait tables for one-third Minimum Wage,
never get paid vacations or health care coverage
and work seven days a week or be on the street.

People go to specialists with health issues
and get all the expensive tests and attention
health insurance and money can buy.

People go to the hospital in unbearable pain
without money or health insurance
and rarely get expensive tests or much attention.

Where do all these people live?
America, The United States of America,
where some foreigners believe
the streets are paved with gold
and for some foreigners, they are!