Job was not a brilliant man. He swept floors for a living. He believed that 1)Tarzan was a real man, and that all those movies were really 2)documentaries of Tarzan’s life. He was the 3)butt of many jokes, yet he taught me about the essence of a “real man”: love and respect for women, honor, kindness and gentleness.

Job embraced life in unexpected, simple ways. He showed up for work, on time. He never 4)bragged about himself, and he loved only one woman—his wife, Molly.Job filled a void in my life. He was principled and 5)straightforward in my world of dishonor and lies. He loved me as his very own grandchild, even though he was a year younger than my father.

I will never forget my graduation from high school. That was a day of hopeless 6)inevitability for me.My father, who was a heavy drinker, began his celebration very early in the day. By the time we conGREgated¹ in the high school 7)gymnasium my father had congratulated himself through nearly a case of beer.

I tried to be invisible within a sea of faces.I wanted to run away.Disappear.Most of all I wanted no one to guess whose kid I was.I was 8)betrayed by my last name, which began with the letter “A,” so I was the first graduate on the first row. Being a red-head gave me even more exposure, and the 9)baccalaureate speaker, who had never met me, decided² to use me as his 10)audio-visual aid.

“This young lady, this bright young lady, with the bright red hair.” His voice rolled through the auditorium³ in 11)sonorous phrases, as I sank lower in my seat.Over to my left, at the door of the 12)auditorium, was a seating arrangement for the “elderly.”And there sat Molly, age 61, and Job, age 47, with all of the grandparents. My heart ached when I looked at them, wishing with all my heart that I were, truly, their grandchild.

As the speaker continued with his speech, he reached a point where he had an uncontrollable urge to introduce “all the wonderful people, who have made this day possible!”

“All the siblings⁴ of the graduates, please, stand.”I slipped lower in my seat, glancing hurriedly around, hoping to remain invisible.

“Now, all the parents, please stand.”Dear Lord, I thought, I’m sure my father can’t stand, even if he wanted to.I didn’t bother to look around.

“Now the grandparents”I closed my eyes, dreading⁵ the hopelessness of my situation.I had no grandparent to stand proudly for me. I finally opened my eyes, and there they were, Job and Molly, standing⁶ proudly with all the other grandparents. Job looked over at me, his eyes beaming like diamonds.

“I’m so proud of you,” he smiled as he mouthed the words that I will never forget. I knew that he stood there, not out of duty, but because of his love for me!

乔布并不起眼，他以打扫楼道为生。他相信在现实生活中，人猿泰山是真实存在的，所有的那些电影都是泰山生活的真实记录片。他是大家取笑的对象，然而他教会了我“真正的人”应有的品质：爱护与尊重女性、荣耀、善良和亲切。

乔布用出人意表的简单方式拥抱生活。他工作准时，从不吹嘘自己，而且只爱一个女人——他的妻子莫莉。乔布填补了我生命中的空白。在我那满布谎言和耻辱的世界里，他是如此有原则和正直。他像爱自己的孙女一样爱我，尽管他比我父亲还小一岁。

我永远也忘不了高中毕业时的情形。那天对我来说本是注定让人绝望的。我的酒鬼父亲，那天一大早就开始自己狂欢了。当我们在学校体育馆集中庆祝时，他已经浸在几乎一箱啤酒里自己作乐了。

我尽力让自己在人海里显得毫不起眼。我想逃走。我想消失。我最希望的，就是没人知道我是谁的孩子。可我的姓氏出卖了我。我姓氏的首字母是“A”，因此我是第一排的第一个毕业生。满头的红发让我更加显眼，而那个与我从未谋面的毕业致词者，决定把我当作辅助他“教学的工具”。

“这位年轻的女士，这位长着一头亮丽红发的漂亮女士。”他言词夸张，声音在礼堂里盘旋回响。而座位上的我，却缩得更低了。我左边的礼堂门口处，是给“长者”的座位区。61岁的莫莉和47岁的乔布跟其他人的祖父母们都坐在那儿。我望着他们，心如刀割。我多么希望我真是他们的孙女。

发言者继续着他的演讲，说到点子上时，他按捺不住内心的激动，要介绍“所有成就了今天毕业礼的了不起的人们！”

“所有即将毕业的同学们，请起立。”我靠在座位上，身子藏得更低了，眼睛快速地向周围扫视了一下，但愿没人看得见我。

“现在，所有的父母们，请起立。”我暗地里想：天啊，我敢肯定，就算我父亲想站，他也站不起来了。我甚至看都不用看了。

“现在，祖父母们……”我闭上眼睛，处境让我不堪设想。没有祖父母会为我自豪地站起来。我最后睁开了眼睛，他们站起来了——乔布和莫莉，他们跟所有的祖父母们一起自豪地站起来了。乔布看着我，眼睛里闪烁着钻石般的光芒。

“我真为你感到骄傲，”他做着口形说道，说的时候面带笑容，而我将永远也不会忘记这些话。我知道，他站起来并不是出于责任，而是源于他对我的爱！