Sweet Dreams, Flying Machines, and the Power of the Pen in MMA

Once in a while, we write things that can touch individuals in ways we might not expect.

I wrote a little article about a fighter named Shawn Bias. I had seen a very exciting fight of his and wanted to write about it.

During the course of investigating material for my “bit” piece, I came across a story of heartbreak and survival.

About a week ago, I received the following letter. I am deeply touched by it and proud that my writing made someone happy like that. The article didn’t even get 150 reads, but it still had an impact.

This shows that it pays to focus on the quality of your writing and not just its popularity. It also pays to write about what you care about. It certainly did in this case.

Here is the letter:

"Hello Marco.

My name is Christine Bias, and I was just looking up info on my son Shawn Bias, well because I am his No. 1 fan!

WOW! I came across your article on our nightmare from Shawn's near death experience.

Shawn has come a long way since that day. I will tell you I have never seen my son self destruct as hard as he had from that whole ordeal. He just became angry about what had happened, how, he would say, can the ones that are put out there to serve and protect us beat someone so badly.

He would be the first to say yeah I was doing a little more partying than I should have, but man, did I deserve to be beaten so badly?

He really hit rock bottom. His whole life seemed to turn around for the worst. He was so pissed all of the time.

He came home a few months ago to attend a funeral and he was detained by a female forest ranger. She wanted so badly for Shawn to admit he was a Butte County gang member due to his tattoos.

He was then put through the go to the hospital to do a drug test, put in jail, released, and nothing came of it, except for him once again scratching his head and asking why.

Back to your article—I haven't cried over that whole mess for a while. I read what you had to say about Shawn ( I cried). I just want to tell you thank you. That was so beautiful. I was so proud. I wasn't there, but he must have made the crowd roar.

I am so glad to say that my boy once again has won his fight! He is back on track and going strong. (He won his fight at PFC 7/16/2009 WOOT)

He is now out of Oroville and staying with his big brother in Lake Forest. Shawn is working hard to put the past behind him and follow his dream to be on top and be the best fighter out there.

He has made his family so proud. Just the sheer will to come from the bottom. To be able to show all of the underdogs out there that if they push hard enough they can win and come out on top.

So Marco thank you for such a wonderful article you touched my heart. I bet you are a good guy like my Shawn.

Have a great day and thank you again.

Christine Bias"

Not much more I can say about that. She actually signed up for the B/R just so she could send me that private message. I don’t think anyone has ever gone through so much trouble just to show their appreciation (to me, that is). I was moved.

I responded as follows:

"I just want to say that I was deeply moved by your letter. I am so pleased to have been able to add even a tiny bit of pleasure to your life. Letters like yours make me feel my living is justified.

Seriously I was very impressed by your son and although I have had a hard time following his career, I have always been interested.

Although I am almost 40 years old now, being Italian I am a serious mama's boy so to speak :P The first thing I did when I saw your letter this morning was send it to her—I hope you don’t mind. She was very happy with me and that is a good feeling.

Thank you for your kind words, and for making both of our days brighter

You should be very proud of your son. Most people do not ever get to experience the kind of night Shawn had. It was truly special.

All my best, Marco"

I guess it just goes to show that we can do more with our writing here than we realize and should always strive to both put out well written pieces but also pieces we care about. It can make all the difference.

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