I am totally opposite! For me, marriage stands for several facts I adore:

1) I am able to decide and be responsible for such a decision (it is an act of renunciation of other possibilities and games).

2) Our relationship is mature, able to persevere a lot of difficulties which would dissolve many other relationships.

3) It’s a clear, sociably declared bound (hey, people, we love each other, count with that and treat as so—from gossip to money).

4) I feel I am mature, too—I don’t need a hidden backdoor for the case of tough circumstances.

People nowadays don’t want to be mature, they want to play and try without an end. The worse and the most naive question of unstable childish relationships is typically—“What if it could be better with someone else?“ To this is only one right answer—“No, it would be the same because of yourself. You are the place you should check & change.”

A relationship without a social act (which marriage is) is just a privately consumed game. People very much underestimate social acts, that’s all. Why? Because it is much harder to break out. It costs a lot and that is scary ;)

From my inexperienced point of view, marriage seems to be a safety helmet for falling relationships, so no matter how dead partners feel with each other, they are bound to one another unless they (after tossing tons of money to "get together") toss money once again to stay apart.

It's sort of like "I love you, but I don't know if I will love you later, so let's get married before the love ends!"

After all, it's based on christianity whose believers think that the universe is a bearded guy.

Marriage is a celebration of love. You live it again and again, every day and night. 

If you think of marriage as a mere contract, of course it is boring and you see it as something optional. 

If you think of marriage as the fullness of intimacy between a man and woman - sharing everything: their hearts, their bodies - which also creates the lives of children... then you see how beautiful and desirable it is. 

It is not a prison but rather the freedom and joy of knowing just how rich/complete your love is: this person who i love and enjoy will always be here for me. At least until we die :P 

Marriage is not for everyone, no. Even for many who desire it, it may not actually be for them. Such is life that we often do not know what is best for us, and even when we know what's best, sometimes we still do not take appropriate action—but I digress.

People change as time passes. Is it any surprise that two people who are compatible today might not be compatible months from now? What about years? Decades?

I also think marriage is not important. At some point I think it is something old fashioned that used to give a woman certainty, in times when women were not as emancipated as now, and did not have means to build there own lifes. They were dependent of their husband, and therefore the bond should be for ever. Nowadays they have their own job and income.

I do very much believe in loyalty though. I am divorced, but when needed I still help my ex wife and my step daughter. I pay for my step daughter her education for example, while there is no obligation to do so. But that is just being fair in general to the people you know. I always try to help my family and friends.