Consider this phrase:
Yesterday is dead. Tomorrow is just out of reach. All we have is here and now.
This echoes with Master Oogway’s teachings in “Kung Fu Panda”:
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.
It seems in arts, many reflections dwell on yesterdays and tomorrows, yet remain scant on today.
Take the song “Yesterday Once More,” which has resonated with me since my school days, or The Beatles’ “Yesterday”—both are nostalgic tunes that captivate the heart. My favorite movie, “Once Upon a Time in America,” reflects a longing for yesterday as well.
Films about tomorrow often venture into science fiction or disaster—each exploring futures looming over the horizon.
About today? I find it scarcely depicted.
It’s a common maxim to ‘live in the present’, yet paradoxically, our cultural narratives seem to shy away from the immediacy of the now—a sentiment resonating through time and across borders.