Affliction, implicitly of the mental variety, pops up a few times in "Mountaintop," and it's an expression we recognize.

Let's hear from MLK:

• The nation is sick, trouble is in the land, confusion all around. (10.2)
• Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. (15.8)
• And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out, or what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers. (44.2)

In each of these moments, Dr. King calls attention to a malady, but it's not cold, flu, or volcanic diarrhea, as much as some people might deserve it. Instead, the sickness is a moral one.

Now, even sick people can be jerks, so it's not that Dr. K absolves the country or Mayor Loeb or those would-be assassins from blame, as if they're only victims of this illness. And yet, at the same time, the metaphor of sickness suggests something that afflicts the body or mind, often through no fault of our own. So possibly there's some compassion there, too.

Most importantly, many sicknesses can be healed. And that's reason to be hopeful: one day, we might just find the cure.