Everyone remembers it. In an unforgiving corner of the Southwest, a coyote speeds across vast anonymous wastelands of goth austerity -- and perforates the TV-generation's hodgepodge of philosophy.

What have today's angsty youngsters learned from these legends of a resourceful and unrelenting foe, always foiled by cartoon zen? Is it a philosophical touchstone about modern society's failure to provide true fulfillment? It's clear that mixed in with lessons about the failure to attain sufficient landspeed are broader nuclear-era themes like "the primitive versus the technological." Consumed by generations of children, these stories have become a national folktale, a re-affirming parable of determination and persistence -- and their folly.

But without words, the lessons are in the eye of the beholder -- to be re-discovered anew by each subsequent generation. Below are the ten most important things we've learned from the scavenging coyote's pursuit of the ever-elusive Road Runner.