What means the world to me?

My 22nd birthday just recently passed and as usual I didn't request any gifts from anyone. Each year I seem to anger all those who care about me because I never want anything. They feel I'm being difficult and stubborn and harass me with suggestions for possible gifts. While this scenario is like annual clockwork for me, I always find it interesting because I observe things on a level unknown to my friends and family. Each year my request for no gifts aids in gauging what means the world to me.

What I've learned is that the people who genuinely care are the ones who completely go against my wishes and use their own brain power to get me something. What's even more touching is how they go about surprising me what they got. I've come to learn realize that the gift I receive is the effort made by the individual to make me happy. Any physical gift is something that can be duplicated but it serves for sentimental value. We often hear the phrase "its the thought that counts" and while there's some truth to it I find that a thought can also be duplicated in the sense that we all have thoughts but not many of us follow through with them. It is the following through and effort to do so that is precious to me and plays a large part in how I feel about an individual.

A genuine effort made to do something for someone else a is truly unique gift that can never be duplicated. If someone asked "what means the world to me?" it would be the love of those who mean the most to me and the one of a kind things they do for me in order to assure my happiness.