Someone else posted a similar thread on here recently, asking what makes a person bad and not just messed up (can't remember who posted it). I have a related question to ponder and wanted to hear what everyone else thinks. Do people who do terrible, cruel things ever end up feeling bad about it later? Actually, I know that some of them do -- bad people in my life have apologized years after the fact. But I guess I'm wondering what everyone else's experience with this is -- do you often hold on to hope that you will get an apology down the road? Or just operate on the assumption that the person who wronged you will suffer no repercussions and no guilt for it? Part of the reason I am asking is because of my current situation. The father of my baby has not only abandoned me and the baby, but has launched a harassment and bullying campaign and consistently threatened me and sought to "ruin my life" for getting pregnant. There is nothing in his behavior to suggest he feels guilt or even realizes that what he's doing is wrong. He may have even cost me my job (by harassing my employer and spreading lies about me) and his reaction to that was just "Consider it a warning shot." A warning for what? I don't know. I told him he should think about the fact that he is harming his own baby, not just me, and promptly blocked him. He responded through a mutual friend later that the baby is already doomed to have me as a mother. This is the sort of behavior I've been dealing with for months. I usually have him blocked but he has found other ways to contact me. I don't know if he either doesn't realize or just doesn't care that this behavior has caused me panic attacks and very real physical symptoms of distress that could hurt the baby. He also asks things about the baby as if he wants to be in its life, or expects to be. It makes me wonder - is it possible that he doesn't even realize he has already committed behavior so reprehensible that he will never see his own child? Can people be that oblivious? I have realized that even if he ever comes back to me and begs to see his son, I simply cannot allow it. Not as revenge, but to protect the baby from someone so determined to harm us. Will he ever regret this behavior or even feel bad about it? I know the answer to this already, deep down, but I'm curious about what you all think and whether you have similar experiences (where you hoped but doubted that someone would eventually feel guilty for hurting you).