In area towns last year and a little so far this year, residents’ talk to boards or committees or to one another at the meetings sometimes got loud, at times with interruptions that didn’t help. But never have I seen someone, however impassioned about their point or dissatisfied with proceedings, come out of the audience and strike someone.

That has gone without saying, but actor Will Smith’s choices Sunday night at the Oscars gave me a new appreciation for the civility town government requires and exemplifies.

Comedian Chris Rock’s blow was low in a joke involving Smith’s wife. And Smith should have told him off, without the profanity heard round the world in the uncensored version. But Smith should not have gotten physical.

When people get loud in local meetings, it is over taxes or transparency, masks or something else far from the nature of Sunday night’s incident. So the two can’t be fully compared. But residents and the officials who field their public comment these days and anytime all earn and uphold the award of democracy, one meeting at a time.

Week’s positive parting thought: This week’s cold nights are making us appreciate winter’s end all the more.