Man in 7-11

Something interesting happened tonight:

I was walking home from pollak in a terrible mood-- someone stole my filters and anti-static cloth in the darkroom. I was feeling sorry for myself and being very angsty about the whole situation, indignant that these things always seemed to happen to me, whine, whine, blah, blah. I stopped at 7-11 on the way home to buy something for dinner, still brooding about my horrible, filter-less life.
There was this old man buying a 40oz beer ahead of me in line, and when he reached the register, the cashier asked him "how are you doing tonight, sir?" in a monotoned voice that didn't even sound like a question. The man, after setting his beer down on the counter, took a deep breath and smiled.
"I'm...blessed," he replied, looking around at a few other customers. His eyes only met mine for a split second. "We're all blessed. Not everyone realizes it."

Now, I don't believe in fate. I don't even really believe in signs. But I do believe that life has a habit of humbling you at the most unexpected times, like in the checkout line at 7-11. I couldn't feel sorry for myself after that. I have no idea who this man was, and I'll probably never see him again...but I marvel the way he has affected me today. It's beautiful and complicated and fascinating how the smallest of incidents can make you remember to appreciate things that you should have been appreciating all along