One of the ultimate benefits of sobriety, though it doesn't seem so at the time, is that we begin to have feelings again.In early days and even years, they often come strongly, more strongly than a "normal" human feeling, and sometimes we don't even know what they are. Feelings of grief and loss can be very powerful, uncontrollable at times.
But feelings of empathy for the people of the world, I am often moved by remote events, seem to be quite miraculous and directly opposite to the self centred instinct driven life I used to lead.
Death is part of life, and dealing with the deaths of others has been part of my journey as it will be for everyone else sooner or later. I lost my father, wife, sponsor, and my best friend. All to cancer. I have sat with dying alcoholics and heard their stories.
My emotional reactions are changing. This is hard to explain, but I think the grief I have been feeling about my loss and the sadness I feel at the idea that anyone has to die, is becoming more balanced and I am able to focus less on how I am feeling and more on what I can do to help the dying person. Less about me and more about them might be a good way of putting it. You might say I am getting better at handling situations that used to baffle me.