Parents want their children to grow up ready and equipped for the world.
Besides learning from teachers, parents try their best to teach them even more life lessons that can only be learned outside of school.
But what if the lessons are coming from other people besides family and teachers?
Would you let your kids learn them?
Gina Arnold was driving her daughter, Audrey, to Marina Village Middle School in El Dorado Hills, California one morning when Audrey asked to be dropped off at the corner.
Gina usually dropped her off at the school entrance and had already passed the corner.
Audrey asked her to go back.
Gina was confused and asked why she wanted to be dropped off there. Audrey said she wanted to talk to the cute old man who talked to all the students before school.
Gina’s maternal instincts quickly kicked in and she wanted to know who this man was.
She had always taught her daughter not to talk to strangers and she was disappointed that Audrey did it anyway. She wanted to know who this man was.
So she drove Audrey to the supposed corner.
When she arrived, she was amazed.
The old man Audrey and the other kids talked to was Wally Richardson, a 94-year-old vet who always went to that corner every morning to share life lessons with all the kids who passed by there.
“Be kind whenever possible,” Wally would tell them.
This is just one of his “Wally-isms.”
“Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much…unless you do what’s right!” Wally would also say regularly.
Wally is also known as Mr. Knuckles because before the kids go off to school, he would always give them fist bumps.
He’s been sharing Wally-isms since 2008.
During the first few years, he and his wife would eat their breakfast before they walked to the same corner and met the students of Marina Village Middle School.
Unfortunately, his wife suffered health problems and became unable to join him in this morning ritual.
Wally continued this tradition every school day because he wanted to share more kindness with the world and the best thing to do that is start with the young ones.
“I want them to retain something that they can take on in life later on,” Wally shared.
Gina was really glad that Audrey asked to be dropped off at the corner or she may not have met Mr. Knuckles.
Happy he’s there for the kids.
“As a parent, knowing that what I’m trying to instill in my kids is actually being promoted as I drop them off… is one of the best feelings I could ever have,” Gina told Inside Edition.
Even the school agrees with Gina.
“It takes one significant adult in a kid’s life and you can impact them forever, and Wally is that person with kids,” Cheryl Olson, the school superintendent, agreed.
Here’s to hoping there will be more Mr. Knuckles inspiring students with their own words of wisdom every school day.
Watch Mr. Knuckles impart his Wally-isms in the video below!
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