Impressed with my date

The guy that I'm dating and I were talking about marriage and how it either is important in society nowadays or not. I was very impressed with what he had to say because of what I know about his previous relationship. We both kind of agreed that marriage is basically a way of offering deep commitment to another person (although many these days seem to degrade that fact with rising infidelity). It is not simply about the exchange of meaningless vows - you are offering yourself heart and soul to another persona, offering them the ultimate gift and sacrifice. You are joining your path in life with another. Sure two people can live together for their entire (adult) lives without being wed. But marriage is not simply about two people living together, but about honouring each other enough to make an important commitment. You are committing yourself to put your partners' needs and your partners' well-being above your own. You are saying to that person "I don't need to keep my options open any more - I have found the one I want to grow old with". What's more special and beautiful than such a promise as that? Does marriage offer a fool-proof guarantee of a successful relationship? Of course not. Those famous words "for better or worse" seems to have little value with what we see today.
There are no guarantees in life (a person studying for a degree at university has no guarantee of either graduating, or finding a job in that field even if they do) - so does that mean we give up hope and never try?? Ultimately we agreed that yes, marriage is essential in our society. In an age where we are so often driven by our own needs and desires; where we so often look out for "number one"; marriage reminds us of things far more beautiful and important. What is more fulfilling than sharing our lives and ourselves with the one we love? Should we give up on marriage as either being too difficult or as a needless tradition? That would be the equivalent of taking a bottle of weed-killer to all the flowers in the world. The world would be a very ugly place if we didn't have flowers, don' you think?