I believe the sewers are beautiful. Yes, you read that correctly. I believe the sewers are beautiful. Not just because they are home to a smell that is unique to sewers and a few other places. Not just because a few people had an idea and now that one idea is tangible and lay across countless miles around the globe. Not just because the idea that sewers are made of billions upon zillions of microscopic atoms. They are beautiful because any person could find a reason for them to be beautiful.
   

I came across this realization one day when walking home from a friend’s house. At that time in my life, I was a pretty pessimistic person. I hardly ever saw the positive side of any situation. My friend, however, was on the opposite side of the spectrum. I envied his ability to always be exuberant even when the situation was dismal. On that day in particular I was thinking about his impenetrable joy more than usual. I had asked him how he was able to see the world the way he did and he responded “I just do.”
    

This stuck with me on my walk home. How could someone just simply be positive? I couldn’t see how or why people at random were granted the ability of being positive. Then I began to think. “What if I have that ability too?” On my left, the sewage outlet that I always walked by began to appear. Normally, I wouldn’t have paid it any attention, but this was no ordinary day. I stared at the sewer for a couple of minutes. It looked old, moldy, and all together not a pretty sight. Then the thought hit me. Maybe I could see if I could find one reason why this disgusting tunnel could be a good thing, then I could see the world in a more positive view. So, I inched closer to the hole.
     

When I got up to the sewage outlet I began to smell the terrible smell of mildew and sewage. The foul stench overtook me, making me almost gag. I pulled my shirt over my nose to try to block out the smell but it was no help. As I peered into the damp darkness of the tunnel I tried to think of something positive. I stood there for a good while with no luck. I took so long analyze the outlet that the sun began to set. I stared as magnificent oranges and yellows painted the sky and saw how easy it was to find beauty in the sunset. I had always been able to enjoy the sunset. I wondered why I couldn’t see the sewer the same way. I turned back to the sewer and that’s when I saw the first thing that made the sewer beautiful. The little bit of sunlight filtered into the tunnel made the wet walls glisten and shine. It looked like the outlet was filled with hundreds of little lights shimmering inside. I stood there in awe for two reasons. One reason was that I had finally accomplished my goal; the other reason was how amazing I found the sewer. This sewer a few seconds before appeared putrid and repulsive. Now it looked grand and dazzling. It was a sight that filled me with amazement. I decided there and then that I never wanted to see the sewer as ugly again. I wanted to do whatever it took to find new ways to see the outlet as bewitching as it was that moment.
    

I started out by making simple observations every time I saw it; then I would try to find beauty in whatever characteristic it was. I would think of ideas like how water came out of the outlet. From there I would move onto thinking of where that water came from and trying to trace it to an undefinable beginning. The complex journey that the water made to get to that spot amazed me. The fact that the same water that was let out there would end up back in someone’s shower and then maybe even back to that same outlet dazzled me. After I got past the simpler ideas I moved on to more complex ideas such as the fact that the sewer went from dream of a few people to the reality of thousands of people. I also moved past just thinking about the sewer. I thought of how incredible it was that humans created different social structures out of thin air. I found it marvelous how people invented a way to fly using an enormous and heavy cylinder of metal. I was baffled by how the earth is less significant than a spec in the grand scheme of everything that exists. My biggest breakthrough, however, came when I didn’t look at the sewer, but rather myself. I had thought of so many radiant traits of that sewer, but I feared that I was the only one. Then I got to thinking, I had never thought that in a million years I would have ever found beauty in a sewer; yet it happened. My inspiration to find beauty came out of thin air. So why couldn’t that happen to another person. As I thought about other people finding beauty in sewers, I began to think that I probably shared some of their views, and some of their ideas I had probably never even thought of! This to me was the most beautiful ,because I knew I couldn’t  be the only one to find beauty in odd places, I wasn’t the only one who loved those odd yet beautiful traits, and most of all I wasn’t alone in these discoveries
    

This concept of anyone finding beauty in the odd crevasses of life is a concept I have kept with me to this day. I think of all the things people might find amazing and I try to find beauty in them. It is an idea that has made a ginormous impact on my life. The fact that it all happened just from me wanting to have a trait shows how simple it is to start seeing the world in a light. So, my question to you is; what will be the sewer that changes the way you see the world?