Is Tomorrow Forever?

Is tomorrow forever?

Recently, I watched the movie, “Tomorrow Is Forever“ starring Orson Welles and Claudette Colbert. It’s a film that was originally released in 1946. Even though I have seen it many times, I watched it again because – it starred an actor I’ve always enjoyed, Orson Welles, and most importantly, my curiosity about the title.

Perhaps, "Tomorrow Is Forever" is a pie-chart type of a statement. It gives us another way of viewing our life.

From my point of view, “Tomorrow Is Forever,” is an intriguing statement. When I first thought about the statement, it seemed like a “pie in the sky” statement. It was while watching the movie, “Tomorrow Is Forever,” and trying to figure out why the movie used the title, that I realized how thought-provoking the expression is. At least, it is for me.

Perhaps, I should make clear that “tomorrow is forever” is an expression that, when it is applied to one particular life, doesn’t seem to ring true for me. That is, when we consider each of our lives, individually, then our tomorrows, as living persons, aren’t forever. But, when thinking about tomorrow in a more general sense, tomorrow not only seems to be forever, but the expression also provides a short and succinct alternative for such things as: “an expanding universe,” “the future is now,” “live for the future,” “the present influences the future,” etc….

So, is tomorrow forever? Let’s look at it from a future point of view. Is the future forever? Well, a future may not include a living me, but the future, in some form, is forever. As I go to bed at night, I assume that tomorrow contains my living future. I set an alarm to wake-up in the future. I live as though tomorrow is forever. In fact, why shouldn’t I? What is accomplished by not thinking that tomorrow is forever? Only a pessimistic and/or negative outlook on life. Ouch!

Drawing the "line segment on a ray" to represent my life. :-)

Looking at this from a different point of view, I can see a mathematic metaphorical “way” of representing my life. I see it as “line segment on a ray.” Of course every ray contains an unlimited number of line segments, but for my metaphor, I see the time from my birth to the present as a line segment that is constantly getting longer. And, the future? Well it is truly a ray that has its endpoint at the present and goes on forever! :-)  Therefore, the metaphor is a geometrical ray that has an endpoint, my birth, and then continues to my present — the line segment. The future or tomorrow completes the ray.

Birth •———– Present ———- Future ———— ➜

The preceding paragraph is a bit abstract. In a less abstract manner, there have been at least two books that have the title of “Tomorrow Is Forever.” One written by Gwen Bristol and another by Barbara Faith. The book by Ms. Bristol contains the story used for the movie mentioned above and Ms. Faith’s book is much different, but still makes use of a story about a person escaping the past while viewing life as though tomorrow is forever.

"Yesterday is gone, gone, but tomorrow is forever." -- Dolly Parton

A little different twist to exploring the question, “Is tomorrow forever?”can be seen in a song written by Dolly Parton, in 1970. In it she wrote and sang the following:

Take my hand and run with me
Out of the past of yesterday
And walk with me into the future of tomorrow
Yesterday must be forgot
No looking back no matter what
There’s nothing there but mem’ries that bring sorrow

Yesterday is gone, gone, but tomorrow is forever

Click here to hear a YouTube video of Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner singing Tomorrow Is Forever.

The first three lines, “Take my hand and run with me, Out of the past of yesterday, And walk with me into the future of tomorrow,” gives the impression that a person can always leave the past and, from a present point of view, “walk into the future of tomorrow.” Wow! Perhaps, in order for any of us to be optimistic, we need to view tomorrow as forever. :-)

So, is tomorrow forever? As an optimistic person, I must say YES! What do you think?