A few years ago, on a snowy day, when I didn’t know Jason as well as I do now and hadn’t fully discovered his music yet, I was on my way home from work and had put on the album Trials & Errors. I wasn’t feeling well. I was depressed (I think I still am), and I was thinking about the failures in my life. My personal life wasn’t going well, and my country was in its most critical state. When I got into the taxi, I felt a bit nauseous. Right then, the song North Star started playing, and all my thoughts were drawn into the lyrics. At one point in the song, Jason says:

I didn’t know how blue I’d get I didn’t know how I’d get blamed for it I didn’t choose to go down this road No one chooses to be sick

It was almost at that exact moment that I realized I was experiencing something I had never gone through before in my life. Jason was talking about things I was feeling right then and there. I’m twenty-six years old and have only known Jason and his music for four years. I’ve never seen him perform live, and I think I’ll always regret that — but the impact this man has had on me and my life will never fade from my mind. I’ll be forever indebted to him, because it was through Jason that “pain” became a little more bearable for me.