I've been sober for two years now, after being married to two alcoholics. One got sober and stayed that way (30 years, now) and the other went back to drinking.
The one who stayed sober is still an active participant in AA, works the Steps in his day-to-day life, sponsors several guys at any given time. He is also a good husband to his wife, a good dad to our kids. He has made up many times over for the harm he did to me when he was drinking. I remember one of the things he did toward the end of his drinking was to take my car without permission, drive it drunk (he was 20 and never had a license) and crashed it into a tree. He got sober about a year later, and he repaid me every penny of the blue book value of the car. He supported me through law school. He has been a great supporter of my own recovery.
I often hear at AA meetings men and women expressing regret and remorse for harms they have done to their families. I see them actively working to make amends for those harms.
So, yeah, lots of people DO make amends for what they have done. Or try--some people only want the alcoholic out of their lives, and those wishes are respected, too.
In any given AA meeting of any size, you are likely to find those actively working their recovery, and those who just show up for meetings. The meetings ARE important--helping others to recover is an important part of our own recovery in Step 12.
I completely understand and sympathize with the bitterness people fresh from their wounds feel, and I can't tell anyone else how to feel, either. I do know that healthy, full recovery is possible. And even with that, people aren't perfect. We are still going to hurt others occasionally. If we are working a program, we try to acknowledge when we are wrong, and do what we can to make amends.