I began the journey through hell again this week. The class of 2011 has taken their first few baby steps into the Inferno. While I have been reading this text for 30 years or so, I must say each trip to the afterworld holds some new meaning for me. I was especially struck this time by our discussion of the foyer to Dante's Hell, reserved for the apathetic. Sinners are forever chasing a banner and being stung by wasps. Dante's message here about our need for engagement is clear. People who are aware of injustice and turn their heads are forever stung by their conscience and must chase an endless banner for a cause they never joined. In our world, it is often easy to see pain and suffering caused by poverty or despair and to turn away. We are caught in our own dilemmas, and the problems and suffering of others seem irrelevant or nonexistant. We can look away assured in our convictions that their suffering is not our problem. Dante's foyer to hell suggests, in fact, it is.
Those wasps and flies represent the stings of conscience that should have been present to make us act in a noble way, to make us stop and care about the fate of others. Dante seems to be saying that being worthy of eternal reward is more than not sinning; it must involve doing good. Joining the cause for rightousness is a pretty big step, but one Dante's readers are greeted with as soon as they step foot on his journey.
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