Accidents do happen and are never planned. They are often the results of care- lessness brought on by haste and can result in broken limbs. They may frequently be the result of a mishap on the ski slopes or football field, or even occur within one's very home. Many young people who suffer broken limbs through such accidents often regret not having been more careful. Yet, ironically many relish the pampered attention they receive from family and peers. The pain of a broken arm or leg can be quite severe and the period of convalescence to full recovery may take a few months.

When someone does break an arm or a leg, it is usually set in a cast. This is a white plaster mold placed around gauze which is worn for about a month, so that the broken limb may have adequate time to heal properly.

In most cases to wear a cast is very uncomfortable depending upon the size and location of the fracture. Simple everyday functions once considered to be so easy and taken for granted are no longer so. Putting on a shirt for a man who has his arm in a cast may not be such a simple matter. Likewise a man with a broken leg may have difficulty in putting on a pair of trousers or wearing a shoe. Even simple pleasures like taking a warm bath or a quick shower may have to be forfeited until the entire cast is removed.

The inconveniences endured by the patient and the slow route to good health and
full recovery elicit the compassion of friends who wish the injured person a speedy recovery. This awkward period of incapacitation may seem like ages even though it may last for only a few weeks. There is nothing to do but to let nature take its own time to mend the broken bone or joint.

To help get someone through this period, it is the custom in America and especially among the young, for friends to sign their name on the cast and to write a get-well message as well. It may take a while for all of the signatures of classmates and colleagues to accumulate but the end result is a graffiti work of art into which much time and many signatures have been invested . However, by the time the cast is ready for removal, there is hardly a place on it where a name has not been inscribed with a token get-well wish.

When the doctor determines that the bone has properly mended the cast is finally removed, it is cut open with great care and given to the recovered patient as a souvenir. Some people save these casts for years as a memory of their broken arm or leg. For most, however, it is a remembrance of the good friends who cared for them during their recovery and a reminder to be more careful in the future.