Weston is a small town. We share sidewalks, stores, meetings, pews and community events. We will not always share the same opinions. Frankly, a healthy community should expect disagreement. Neighborliness does not demand silence, constant politeness or forced harmony. It does require that we recognize the dignity of the person standing in front of us.

Question decisions. Challenge ideas. Hold leaders — including me — accountable. Speak plainly when something is wrong. But attempting to humiliate, frighten or overpower another person is not spirited debate. It is not toughness. And it is not something I will normalize from the editor’s chair.

Owning a newspaper does not make me Weston’s referee or give me the right to settle personal disputes in print. The Chronicle will not be used as a weapon against someone I dislike or with whom I disagree. Personal conflicts will not determine who receives fair coverage, whose letter is considered or whose voice appears in these pages. That separation matters, and I intend to protect it.

My responsibility, however, goes beyond printing what happened last week. A community newspaper should help readers examine what their community is willing to accept. That does not mean dictating manners or insisting that everyone be agreeable. It means being clear when conduct crosses the line from disagreement into degradation.

If I witness someone being bullied or intimidated, I will not look away because speaking up might be uncomfortable. I will address the conduct when it is safe and appropriate to do so. I will support people who are treated as though their voices, safety or dignity matter less. I expect the same standard in the Chronicle’s workplace, at events we sponsor and in the public conversations we host.

That standard applies to me as well. Readers should tell me directly when they believe I have acted unfairly or fallen short. Accountability cannot be something an editor only demands from others.

We do not have to like one another. We do not have to agree. We do have to understand that in a town this size, our words travel farther than we think, and their effects often remain after the argument ends.

We will see one another again — at the grocery store, at City Hall, at church or on Main Street. Let’s speak directly without demeaning. Let’s disagree without making another person smaller.

That is not asking too much. It is the minimum standard of being neighbors.