I really liked this passage, mostly because I think it's right. People crave the feeling of usefulness, of having purpose, especially in regards to serving others. I taught high school for about a decade, and the quote from Odo (not DS9 Odo) resonated with me. "It is useless work that darkens the heart." I had countless students who hated doing classwork. Wouldn't pick up a pencil, wouldn't touch a book. But if you asked them to sweep the floor so we can sit in a circle, they'll do the best sweep job you've ever seen.
I like this a lot. In many ways, I think it's the main uniting craving for communists living in the global north at the end of history. no one wants to do useless work, and so much of our culture and being is wrapped up in producing a social fabric that tries to hide the uselessness of so much of our work. capitalist ideology means we need to toil worthlessly while stealing all our things of value, our commodities that are truly essential, from the impoverished and exploited peoples of the global south.
The Dispossessed - and Le Guin in general - is amazing.
You put in a nutshell a good deal of what I wanted to write AnarchaPrincess in regards to the school post. That school can be a very different thing. Which I think in The Dispossessed is also shown.
