AN APPEAL FOR PATIENCE AND
KINDNESS TOWARD ONE'S AGING MOTHER
When your mother has grown older,
And you have grown older,
When what was once easy and effortless
Now becomes a burden,
When her dear, faithful eyes
No longer see life as they once did,
When
her feet, grown tired,
No longer want to carry her as she walks —
Then
give her your arm for support;
Accompany her with gladness and joy.
The hour will
come when, weeping
You will accompany her on her final walk.
And
if she asks for something, then answer her.
And if she asks again, then speak.
And
if she asks yet again, respond to her,
Not stormily, but with gentle calm.
And if she cannot understand you well,
Explain everything to her joyfully.
The
hour will come, the bitter hour,
When her mouth will ask for nothing more.
(Adolf Hitler)
* "Denk
es," from the Sunday Morgenpost, Munich, May 14, 1925