"JUST" IS A 4-LETTER WORD

"The regenerate science which I have in mind would not do even to minerals and vegetables what modern science threatens to do to man himself. When it explained it would not explain away. When it spoke of parts it would remember the whole. While studying It it would not lose what Martin Buber calls the Thou-situation...Its followers would not be free with the words only and merely." - C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

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Just.

Just is a 4-letter word, one that I often find offensive.

"What does Mary do?"

"Oh, she doesn't do anything. She's just a mom."

Just a mom? Birthing and nursing and raising a new generation of humans, nurturing immortal Image bearers during their brief sojourn between eternity past and eternity yet to come...how on earth, tell me, is the word just (as in only, merely, simply) ever aptly used in conjunction with the word mother?

Just a mom? Is this not a subtle way of downplaying, if not an attempt to dismiss altogether, the tremendous significance of motherhood?

Cooking dinner, resolving relationship issues, dealing with health problems or demands at work, diagnosing a vehicle malfunction...whatever the context, when the word just is used, it nearly always implies: "Your problem/concern/struggle/difficulty is really no big deal. The situation/solution is actually quite simple."

Just is often used as a tool for explaining away a reality that is bigger than a person wants to acknowledge.

Just, only, merely, simply...these words should not be used as a smoke screen to obscure our vision of reality, nor should they be used as an opiate to numb us to the very real concerns of others.

Just, only merely, simply...such small words, but deceptively dangerous. Handle them with care.