"We often hear it said that what is right in one age is wrong in another.' This is quite reasonable, if it means that there is a fixed aim, and that certain methods attain at certain times and not at other times.
If women, say, desire to be elegant, it may be that they are improved at one time by growing fatter and at another time by growing thinner. But you cannot say that they are improved by ceasing to wish to be elegant and beginning to wish to be oblong.
If the standard changes, how can there be improvement, which implies a standard?" --- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

The (post-)modern idea of universal relativity is counterproductive. It impedes, even denies improvement or progress. If there is no absolute good thing, then there is no goal to which man can attain in a measurable way.

One cannot speak of the historical march of progress without first assuming a fixed common goal by which to compare. To say that we are in some way better or worse off than our forebears requires first some measure of what is better and what is worse --- a measure that must be common to both in order to allow comparison.

It is impossible to say that we have progressed towards our desired end if that end has been altered --- if the desired end is altered, we no longer strive for our original target but have instead begun to seek after a new one. As Chesterton says, "how can you overtake Jones if you walk in the other direction?"

"But," the relativist might answer, "there is some observable change, and by that change we may compare." This is, of course, an equally ridiculous prospect --- while we may see that there is some difference, that difference has no intrinsic value --- it is like a man who sets out to craft a measuring stick by measuring the stick against itself.

For a man to better himself, he must first know what is better and then seek after it. This goal must also either be sought by others or be absolute --- otherwise it is not a desirable improvement, but is instead a mere empty means of occupying time.

But the nature of man reviles stagnation --- there is always a desire for motion, for improvement. Mankind is built for improvement. There is within humanity, therefore, an inborn knowledge of the absolute.

The absolutes of Christianity fill this void perfectly --- and how clearly so! The keyhole of our longing is made to fit the key of God's Word.

What's in a standard if it changes all the time? You're still havin' trouble in defining your kind