One piece of paper makes a difference?

Why yes, of course it does. It may be a mere piece of paper, but depending on what's printed on it, it can open or close doors. It is so strange that one piece of paper can have so much power...
I'm not just talking about my BA here (which I've just got, by the way) but other paper, too, medical papers, immigration papers, business papers, etc, etc.
Here's the old Hungarian 'bear' and 'deathlist' joke...:-)

The bear writes a death list. News of his death list spread across the forest like wildfire. 
Some of the animals who hear about it decide to go ask the bear about the list, thinking, that living in uncertainty is worse than knowing for certain that a bear is going to eat you. 
So, the fox goes to the bear and asks him about the list.
'Excuse me bear, is it true that you have a death list?' asks the fox.
`Yes.' says the bear.
`Well... is my name on it?'
`I don't know, let me check...' says the bear, and then he pulls out the death list. `Yes, you're on the list.'
And the bear eats the fox.
A few days later the wolf comes by and asks the bear about the list.
`Excuse me bear, is it true that you wrote a death list?' asks the wolf.
`Yes.' says the bear.
`Okay... is my name on it?'
`I don't know, let me check... Yep, afraid so...'
And the bear eats the wolf.
A couple of days later the rabbit comes by and asks the bear about the death list.
`Excuse me bear, is it true that you have a death list?' asks the rabbit.
`Yes.' says the bear.
`Tell me... is my name on it?'
`I don't know, let me check... Yes, afraid so, you're on the list'
`Excuse me bear... but couldn't you... take my name off the list?'
`Why not?'