Ditto that!
I get a "Chicken Little" vibe - or is it a bread-baking Little Red Hen vibe? The nay-sayers.
The chorus of naysayers. (No hyphen.)
"Shoot the moon" - why does that crack me up - then, "I tried that" - LOL!
And the voodoo doll...!
To manifest what we want, and not get it -
Then to hear the scoffing of the I-told-you so pessimists and pragmatists.
You really do pack a LOT of stuff into a short freewrite. I am ever amazed!
As to what the story means: some of us dream and do, in spite of all the setbacks and negativity?