[Serious] Is the Past Real?

[Neo-Scholastic]

And presumably what one considers real has bearing on one's value system. Not even remotely suggesting that I have any answers. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the ontological status of the past and/or future somehow matters.

But does it matter to whether or not you believe there is a moral obligation to keep a promise?  Such that an answer to those questions has an effect?  Even if we assumed that only the present is real, and that we live our lives, practically, entirely in a present moment - do you presently believe that there is a moral obligation to keep our word?

Break your word now, break your word later, ultimately, the date of when you break your word is immaterial to whether or not that's a bad thing.

Yes, I do believe there are good reasons to behave ethically in the here and now. And all those reasons must be deontological. Or so it seems to me. Even in an etch-a-sketch universe there seem to be absolutes, like a grainy metallic quantum texture and its rigid adherence to the Principle of Non-Contradiction - the path of a single nylon cursor tracing on the ephemeral fabric of existence. It seems implausible that any form of presentism could support a moral theory based on future consequences. As for eternalism (whether Calvinistic or Einstienian), it has its own moral problems since chosen consequences are fated so-to-speak.