The Future Self

 I was reading a recent article which talked about how many people don't save up very well for retirement, because their thoughts are mainly on how to get through week to week. It's not that it is not possible to save for retirement, but one is often thinking only of the immediate without recognizing that what one does now will have an effect on the future. It does make me wonder, why does the future self not become an object of our compassion as much as the "present" self?
  I have a feeling that people have a greater tendency to idealize the future self. Perhaps this is because one always imagines that time is moving "upward", and this is a kind of metaphor for progress. But in a sense, one can also see that the future self depends on this present self, and does not automatically "improve" or progress simply by virtue of time itself. One needs to make preparations now for that future person to grow or have opportunities.
   When a person is struck with some decision or behavior they now regret, there is an opportunity there to see the workings of causes and conditions on the person. I might not see the repercussions of my past behavior, but as soon as I do so, I am learning that what I do now also affects the future in turn. This is not a reason to be pessimistic, but it reminds me that everything I do now impacts the future. Nothing is lost in the cracks, and what I am doing now will always have some kind of effect, even if it's not so clearly visible at first.