It was not always this way, even with our own culture. And many non-Western cultures still don't see time this way. Some see time as cyclical, that is, past and present are one, and thus, so is the future. It is based on the close relationship of people to the land, seeing the eternal realities of life in the passage from day to day, season to season. Helps to define the meaning in their lives and place in the world.
Time is a matter of renewal, with rituals set to bring a kind of closure to time.
Some of these cycles are immense. This causes some non-Western groups to reject both history and archaeology. But these are often a matter of religious faith, not of science. There are several important reasons for a scientific understanding of time. Even non-Western cultures ask this question.