I get what you're saying. I think though that sometimes we will never know what people have to live with as a consequence of their actions. For some saying "I'm sorry" is a really hard thing to admit, but that doesn't make their regret any less.
I had this conversation with a friend who is a professional. She said that we all look back and have regrets about something we have done in life. She said that that's just part of being human. No one gets through this life without wishing they had handled something differently. The difference is in the size and depth of the hurt you've caused. I think that walking out on your family has to be one of the bigger bad choices that anyone could make, and that the guilt must be awful! So is it Karma... yes, I believe so because it must be haunting.
