I was still in high school when Sept. 11, 2001, happened, and I remember coming inside from marching band, seeing every television turned on. I remember listening to the news and just a few minutes later, watching the second plane slam into the second tower. Those are moments I will never forget.

Three years later, it doesn’t hurt any less. One thousand and ninety-five days later, and the images of the planes exploding in New York’s skyline are as clear and vivid as that morning after band practice. A day I wish I could, but never will forget.

Three years later, we must go back to those events and ask: What have we done since then? What have we fixed, and why did this happen?

What are the answers to these questions? Unfortunately, after these horrendous events, the United States responded to violence with more, unimaginable violence. The cycle of violence cannot be solved by more violence.

Oct. 7 will be the third anniversary of the U.S. war machine attacking Afghanistan. Instead of mobilizing the international community to try to understand what it is that drives radicals into a violent frenzy, we mobilized the world’s most frightening and destructive army.

After attacking Afghanistan, we moved on to Iraq in our new “War on Terror.” We made the case that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the safety of Americans by possess-ing weapons of mass destruction. This reason wasn’t good enough for most Americans, or the rest of the world, so we decided that Iraq had a major part in Sept. 11, as well a link to al-Qaida.

This sold more Americans, and thus a war campaign against Iraq started. With countries such as Iran and North Korea being named as our next target, we are in a frightening time. After Sept. 11, the United States missed a critical opportunity. We had an opportunity of which some other countries took advantage. We decided to use our frightening army for revenge; instead of establishing a policy of peace and justice, we waged war.

After the terrorist attacks in Spain, which included bombings in trains all over the country, citizens decided to take a tough stand on the extremists responsible by electing a socialist government that promised to withdraw from Iraq and work to solve the problem with the extremists in a more civilized and peaceful manner. Justice, not vengeance.

Although we missed an incredible opportunity, the moment has not passed completely by. The path to peace and justice starts every morning when you wake up and decide if you will support the preemptive war policy of the current administration.

You decide every day if the world will be more peaceful by refusing to defeat or humiliate anyone, but rather gain his or her friendship and understanding.

Nonviolence is not about being passive. Living a life of nonviolence requires an inner peace, but it also includes an active and courageous involvement in the community in the same respect that Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. taught and lived by.

Living in the shadow of the attacks in New York, and in the aftermath of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, a nonviolent way of life is not just an option anymore. Nonviolence is much more important in these new times of war. As the great Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”

These words reverberate in the ears of concerned citizens all over the world. Words that need to be given serious thought. The time has come to stop dreaming about peace and justice, but to start living it.

We have no other option.