Paul Hamer, an English professor at Park Tudor School, delivered an intensely personal commencement address in 2007 — a year he described as one of the worst of his career. He had suffered from severe Empty Nest Syndrome after his daughter left for college, experiencing anxiety attacks, angina, rashes, and weight gain. But it was his students in the Class of 2007 who helped him recover, through unexpected moments of kindness: thank-you notes, overheard conversations, and a student who said they wanted to enter education partly because of him. In his closing remarks, Hamer told the graduates that the red ink he spattered across their essays — which may not have felt like love at the time — was emblematic of the full attention of his heart. Teaching, he said, was a sacred calling to him, and paying attention was the truest expression of devotion he could offer.