A Journey Towards Acceptance – An Evolving Memoir:
A Journey Towards Acceptance – An evolving Memoir is an empowering story about one man’s struggle with his identity. One of the youngest firstborn of a World War II veteran, Jason Masters was living in a society where the murder of gay men was not uncommon in his community. Police in Australia at the time, during the 1970’s throughout the early 21st century, were not tolerant of the LGBTIQ community. Religious organisations displayed their disregard and disdain of gay men and women. They were subjected to criminal misconduct, crimes against them were not being investigated and they faced societal rejection.
Overcoming the fear of his controlling upbringing garnered the onset of his faith. As a Christian, he would wander off to the beach at night and pray, yell and argue with God in the darkness, for some universal answers to alleviate the way he was feeling. He tried to understand and study the Bible as a means to educate himself with a variety of unanswered questions pertaining to his sexuality; and came up with nothing that gave him any hope. He became somewhat of an actor by following rigid sectarian rules, with religious guidance, and even got married seeking a ‘fixable solution’ for being gay.
As a family man, the one thing Jason knew was that he needed to suppress his feelings in front of his wife and children, which ultimately backfired on him when he was forced to seek counselling for the state of his mental health. The “Black Dog” just kept returning no matter how much he prayed.
Jason’s lack of acceptance for who he really was led him down a spiral of depression, suicidal thoughts and a life of the unknown. His respite was through trying to fix those around him as an accidental activist- by fighting for the injustices that so many minority groups face.
All through his career, despite Jason’s struggle for his own acceptance, he was recognised in the business community as a faithful and dependable executive. He also provided many leadership roles within his local church and wider parts of his denomination, from a youth leader to member of their national assembly.
He uses the stock market as an analogy for personal survival and growth- similar to a graph moving up and down without consistency; mirroring his existence. And similar to the stock market, there were incredible crashes with significant impacts on his psyche and those around him. As an executive, he never ‘came out’ to his peers because of the threat and fear he assumed would jeopardise his family and livelihood. Could his career sustain such a reputational issue?”
With the ultimate crash he had to confront who he was, and the consequence of existing in the closet.
A Journey Towards Acceptance – An Evolving Memoir will compel the reader to take a step back and reassess how judgment is in the eye of the beholder. In his book, Jason Masters provides a roadmap for people from various faiths and backgrounds to understand the fundamental meaning of living a life of acceptance – forcing his audience to reflect on the importance of working through love, kindness, bereavement and faith from the inside.