“You never really know someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. " - Unknown. How can we truly understand someone and know who they are? As people, we tend to judge others without realizing that they became who they are through their experiences and the way they were raised. In “Our Secret” by Susan Griffin, she discusses the abnormal and strict childhood experiences of Heinrich Himmler. The main question Griffin answers is: how did he become this way? We only knew him as a Nazi leader, but we didn't really understand him or why he did the things he did. Griffin recounts how Himmler had an extremely strict father who was so strict that he was constantly checking Himmler's shoulder as he was. write in your journal every day. Himmler had what appeared to be a traumatic and fearful childhood. “What could push a person to conceive the plan to gas millions of human beings to death? In her work, she traces the origins of this violence back to childhood” (Griffin 340). Was his father responsible for all this? Maybe, but the main idea is how to truly understand someone and put yourself in their shoes. “Heinrich's character is barely apparent, over time this stilted style becomes his own. As we continue reading, we no longer think of a boy forced into the task, but of a prudish and rigid young man” (Griffin 341). Around the age of 10, Himmler was considered an adult by his father and he could no longer have a childhood. Himmler denounced his other classmates and was considered an outcast. He learned to be superior from his father and those below him were much less unimportant. Himmler discovered he had a purpose in life because his father told him what to do. Himmler entered the army and won...... in the middle of a newspaper ......wn and the town was for racial inequality. This person doesn't agree with how their city reacts to people of color, so that doesn't mean the city's "way of life" resides in this person. Yes, sometimes our environment influences us, but it's mostly through our experiences as we grow up. Unfortunately, being able to truly know a person can be difficult. You have to put yourself in their shoes and see how they perceive the world. Most of the time, this person will have dark secrets that another person will never know about. “Now you know everything, and you keep quiet, he will tell them. Now we share a secret and we should take our secret to our graves” (Griffin 336). Fully knowing someone else's desires, secrets, wishes, how they felt, what they loved, would probably be one of the hardest things. It takes a lot of time and effort to really get to know someone.