(FinalCall.com) -- It was a story that really got to me. Eighteen year old Chaquita Young, the only child of a single mother killed in the Pentagon attack on Sept. 11, 2001, asked the Department of the Army, her mother’s employer, to let her come work for them this summer. It was her way of moving on and it was a wish the government granted. The story, of a graceful young woman forced to deal with her mother’s sudden death only weeks before her 18th birthday, brought tears to my eyes. Now a college student, she is seeking to find some resolution by working in her mother’s office and her mother’s co-workers are determined to help her, and thereby help themselves, to find some sense of peace.

There will be many such stories over the next days and weeks as we reach the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. If you have read the New York Times short obituaries of those killed in the World Trade Center, you know that each and every person killed has a story known to those they loved. There will be moving stories of the people killed, of the heroes and sheroes who worked to save lives and of the horrors of that day. Undoubtedly, we will see the planes going into the World Trade Center over and over again.

As horrible as that day itself was, the attacks had impact lasting long beyond that one day. It is estimated that 110,000 people in the metro New York area have lost jobs either directly by the destruction of the World Trade Center or indirectly, as other New York businesses have failed or have cut back employees. Thousands of others have seen reductions in their work hours as tourism in both New York and Washington declined. Many Americans, not only those in and near New York and Washington, have found themselves dealing with post-traumatic stress or with nearly paralyzing fear. We are a long way from healing, it seems.

While the smoke and dust-cloud which hung over downtown Manhattan is now gone, it is believed that hundreds of contaminants were released into the air, with health impacts for thousands of persons who work or live near Ground Zero and for the thousands of workers involved in the rescue and clean-up. It is feared that asbestos and crushed glass were among those contaminants released that fateful day and that undocumented service and day laborers and those without health insurance will be especially vulnerable in the future.

Speaking of undocumented workers, do we really know how many people were really killed on Sept. 11? Families of undocumented workers are often still living in other countries, unable to speak English or to prove that their loved one was killed that day. Some families did not even know where their New York family members actually worked. There have been some organizations, particularly Spanish-speaking community organizations in New York, which have been working to reach out to such families.

For some people, one-year anniversaries of death are the turning points for moving on. For others, it is a much longer process. That’s true for us as individuals and probably will be true for us as a nation. But as we approach this one-year mark, there are some questions that many of us must face.

Can we have real security in a world rife with economic and racial injustices? How do we get beyond the fear to community? How do we reach out to people of differing faiths and use our common belief in a Creator to bring us together, rather than tear us apart?

Perhaps the most important question we must ask is, "What are we each doing to bring about a world of peace with justice?" For, in the words of Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." On September 11, 2002, may we each rededicate ourselves to changing the world. That is the only thing which will change it.

(Bernice Powell Jackson is executive minister for Cleveland, Ohio-based Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ.)