My brother had just been falsely charged and sent to jail. Seeing the look in my mother’s eyes at the sentencing would break anyone’s heart. The following morning I went upstairs, and on the dinner table my other brother Matt had left a powerfully inspirational note for my parents. It read, “And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow. With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go. Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain. And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.”

—Adam Dawe