He found a wallet full of cash in 1968 — 57 years later, the Jiminy Cricket in his head made him do the right thing

Sometimes, the smallest actions can weigh on us for a lifetime. That’s exactly what happened to Kari Vallden, a 78-year-old man from Finland who still remembers the day in 1968 when he found a wallet stuffed with bills inside a phone booth at a market in the city of Lahti — and decided to keep the money.

It’s been 57 years, but the guilt never left him.

A mistake that haunted him for a lifetime

Back then, Vallden was just 21. He had just finished his military service and was going through a rough patch — his marriage had ended, and he felt lost. One day, while calling a friend to grab a few beers, he spotted the wallet. Inside: 280 Finnish marks, about $500 today.

He didn’t hesitate. He took the cash and left the empty wallet behind.

Moments later, remorse began to set in. He returned to the booth, but instead of returning the money, he panicked — and tossed the wallet down a sewer to hide the evidence.

Jiminy Cricket lives in Kari Vallden’s head

Decades passed, but the memory never faded and that moral voice in his head never stopped reminding him of what he’d done.

Even, as Vallden rebuilt his life — studying business, working over 30 years at Finland’s state data center, serving three times as a UN peacekeeper, and enduring unimaginable loss after losing a son to cancer and later his wife — that one impulsive act stayed with him.

A debt he couldn’t ignore

Now, after nearly six decades, Vallden has decided to make amends.

He calculated what 280 marks would be worth today and added a symbolic amount for the distress he may have caused the wallet’s owner. In total, he donated €850 (around $900) to the Lahti Shelter for Women and Children, hoping the money would help a struggling mother — perhaps echoing the kind of hardship the original owner might have faced.

Still, that wasn’t enough.

Remorseful public appeal: “I just want to say I’m sorry”

To finally bring peace to his conscience, Vallden has gone public.

“If this story reaches whoever lost that money, I want them to know I’m truly sorry,” he said, “You have to think twice before acting, because sometimes second chances don’t come. And guilt, however small, can stay with you for life.”

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