[Serious] Is the Past Real?

[Angrboda]

On a personal note, I made a promise to my father that can only be fulfilled after he passes. And while I fully intend to honor that promise am I in truth so obligated?

Would you feel any differently about your promise if the past didn't exist? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the whole question. If the only thing that is real is the present moment, then yes, past becomes moot, but then so does the future, as well as the present. It's not like we can, in the present, decide to act a certain way in the future because our doing so doesn't appear to imply anything with regard to what happens in the future. Our decisions might be realized, but then they might not. When we get to that future time, the past in which we made a decision is no longer real and so what effect can it have? I think I'm just not understanding this whole conversation. Words like 'real', 'exists', 'past', 'present', and so on are doing a lot of heavy lifting, but it's not clear what they should be doing.