I stopped paying, and their lives fell apart; the sequence looks like cause and effect, like I pushed and they fell.

But that is not what happened, and the difference is the whole of my conscience in this matter.

I did not build the debts that crushed Theresa; she and Lauren built those, over years, with their own choices.

I did not spend beyond their means; they did that, extravagantly, for a long time.

I did not commit the fraud, or max the cards, or purchase the leveraged SUV, or order the catered feast on credit.

All I did was stop, with my own money, propping up a structure that was already, fundamentally, unable to stand on its own.