Well that must be quite comforting at night.
As I said before, the words "shelf life" are offensive in ANY context. It says more about the person saying them than it does about the object it is directed at.
I think you are the one in fear of mortality. Life is about giving up oneself in teh service of another. A man gives up his life for his beloved, and vice versa. Its in the Bible. If that isnt proof that a marriage is more than the product of its parts, then I dont know what is. And your assertion that marriage is nothing but a materialist expression of purpose is as much a lie as any Stalinist.
Ive concluded, you're a raving lunatic. I wont call you a misogynist, because I dont even think you can step outside your little bubble of pseudo-philosophy to allow that kind of emotion in. You're an echo chamber whose words have no meaning to the rest of humanity. Call us Stalinist? Call us communist? I call you a waste of time.
And of course service to something larger than oneself is the point of all striving. That is why children - who are more important than their parents - and duties toward them - which is service to something larger than oneself - is the point of marriage. Instead of the selfish desires of the parents.
And one does not need to be married to serve others. Nor does the family cease to exist horizontally. Nor is it restricted to one line in time.
As for the statement that the words "shelf life" are offensive in any context, how about on a milk carton? It is pure bilge, making up offense to take in order to paint perfectly reasonable people expressing perfectly obvious facts as immoral monsters. Uncharitably.
Trying to find monsters where there are none in order to spread unreasoning hatred of perfectly decent human beings, is stalinist style agitprop, whatever the motive or movement involved. And you are doing it, and you should be ashamed of yourself, and apologize for it. But you won't. You are too busy congratulating yourself on your transcendent service to others, to notice you are wronging innocents to no purpose.