“What did you do this summer?” is the question hot off of everyone’s tongue, and each person I run into has a riveting reply. So many of our friends and acquaintances were busy traveling outside of the so-called First World, or researching strands of devastating viruses, or teaching ESL to underprivileged youth before hopping on the L train back to Brooklyn. We are a school of young people who want to save the world, the very noblest of pursuits. Yet come September, when we return to Middletown, we retreat into worthy academia and joyful partying ’til dawn (COLLEGE!). And on the day that inebriation grows monotonous, we pine for remote, exotic villages, or for our urban summer locales, ultimately recoiling into the secure comfort of that good ol’ “Wesleyan bubble.”

Now, I admit to resorting to celebrity blogs when I’ve made sufficient headway in any tome or textbook, but I still try to remind myself that a whole world exists between Suzanne Lemberg Usdan right here and Shakespeare way back there (and Sarah Silverman, for that matter, with her mischievous and malicious digs at Britney). We often joke that we’re far removed from the real world, and we do live in a community where the overwhelming majority shares liberal political views. But in truth, we’re part of a larger community in which not everyone agrees.

Last weekend, I spoke with Ken McClellan, a project manager for software development in Hartford who was deployed to Iraq a few years ago from his home in Middletown. A native of Pennsylvania, McClellan enlisted in the army when he graduated from high school. He has lived in Middletown since the early ’90s; he dates his move to “a bit after the Gulf War.” McClellan left Connecticut in 2004 to serve as a team leader for ten officers and sergeants, with three battalions assigned to him. I thought it would be informative to speak with a local veteran to learn about civic involvement in Middletown, this small city where we take classes, get mail and go to sleep each evening.

When I sat down with McClellan at the Russell Public Library, I admit I was ready to hear of interminably injured Iraqi civilians and the heart-wrenching havoc of post-traumatic stress disorder—either that, or sensational tales of glorious American victories against extremist Iraqi militants. Certainly, McClellan echoed the Fox News rhetoric of “terrorist bullies.” I have to say, though, that here before me on Church Street sat an engaged, informed, genuinely good type of guy.

“I got along with the Iraqis,” McClellan told me of his year overseas. “People are people, no matter where you go.”

I asked McClellan if he had personally felt negative responses from Iraqi citizens; he nodded. “Of course, at times I’d get the stony glare,” he said. “But most Iraqis would walk up and shake my hand and say ‘Thank you.’ Those are the two words they know.”

The Iraqi children would run up to Americans in uniform, he remembered fondly. “What kid doesn’t love soldiers?” He told me that his unit used to distribute hard candy from their pockets, as well as notebooks, pencils, clothing and stuffed animals sent from Middletown.

“For all the things [the ‘liberal’ media claims] America is doing wrong…” McClellan broke off, “And, yeah, we’re not perfect. [Iraqi extremists are] just doing horrible things there to prevent a strong central government. They may not want us there, but it’s better than the alternative.”

Iraq, McClellan stressed time and time again, could “easily be the richest and most successful country in the whole Arab world.” He seemed to have a profound admiration for the Iraqi military and to earnestly regret that the conflict has not ended sooner, which he thought it would. When asked what he thought should be done at this point in the war, McClellan sighed.

“I’d much rather see diplomacy work first.” He took a breath. “But it doesn’t always. Now we need to get them to a point where they can maintain [their own] balance.”

For McClellan, this means not pulling out until the democracy Bush and Petraeus seek is secured.

During his year-long tour in Iraq, McClellan said he saw incredible progress.

“When we [American soldiers] stepped back and pushed [the Iraqi army], they did better,” he said. “That’s how it should be.”

But by the time he was leaving, McClellan said, the U.S. National Guard had arrived in the region where he was serving, with the unfortunate attitude that the Iraqi army lacked ample competence.

“They decided [that the Iraqis] couldn’t handle it themselves,” he said. “So they didn’t let them handle it.”

McClellan didn’t paint a picture of absolute American glory, but he did strongly chide our national media for its anti-Bush bias and stressed the humanitarian work of American soldiers in Iraq. I myself would say that the media and the nation are finally starting to wise up to reality. But when a family man and involved citizen—McClellan is running for the Middletown Common Council—tells you about his unit’s intervention in poor villages where the water supply is cut off, schools are closed and economically crucial date groves are torn down, it becomes harder to criticize America’s activity outright. McClellan’s politics may not be mine (and, certainly, they are not), but there is something to be said for his experience and ardor.

I’m the first to whine that Middletown is not New York, or Paris, or Berkeley, or Dschang, Cameroon. But this is the heart of New England, a historically important part of the world that we undergrads want to save. We must be wary of locking ourselves into the ivory tower that we so often lambaste. Although I often disagree with their political ideologies, I find that I can learn a lot from citizens like Ken McClellan, a Middletown resident who has engaged globally in an important way, with nary a piece of chalk in sight.