When governors are being arrested and the economy is in the tank, we tend to forget that this is a great nation made up of the greatest people in the world.

Dong Yun Yoon’s words came along at precisely the right time.

By now, we know the tragic story of the military jet that crashed into a residential neighborhood in San Diego, wiping out an entire family.

It’s practically impossible to fathom such a catastrophe.  An innocent mother and her daughters, along with the woman’s own mother, killed in a twist of fate, a random and likely unavoidable accident that seems as surreal as being crushed by a falling meteor.

Things like this test the faith of the staunchest of people.  I’m sure that lots of individuals turn bitter and angry after losing loved ones, rejecting the complicated and challenging belief that God always has a plan.

Dong Yun Yoon is apparently not one of those faith-challenged people.

When Mr. Yoon left for work the other day, he couldn’t possibly have envisioned losing his 36-year-old wife, Young Mi, his daughters Grace and Rachel, who were 15 months and 2 years old, respectively, and his 60-year-old mother-in-law, Suk Im Kim.  The idea of an F/A-18D Hornet falling from the sky and crushing one’s precious family would be impossible to expect.

And yet this gentle man, microphones and cameras thrust into his face, tearfully expressed the inner strength of a believer:  “…my wife and two babies and mother-in-law are in heaven with God,” he said.  “And I know God is taking care of them.”

But then, he said something that should serve as a powerful inspiration to us all.

The pilot of the jet, who was on a training mission off the carrier Abraham Lincoln, apparently experienced engine failure and ejected safely from the doomed aircraft before it plunged into the Yoon home.

I can’t begin to understand how this young husband and father could feel about the man who had been flying the jet that ultimately took his family from him.

But Don Yoon quickly dispelled any notion that he harbored any resentment for the pilot.

“Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident,” Yoon said of the young Marine.  “I know he’s one of our treasures for the country, and I don’t blame him.  I don’t have any hard feelings.  I know he did everything he could.”

I know he’s one of our treasures for the country.

What an amazing display of grace, compassion, and love.

And how incredible it is that this grieving, shell-shocked man would take this awful circumstance to express support for one of the brave members of the United States military.

How many of us could demonstrate such courage? Continued...