Thanks for all of the help - the light bulb finally came on! To whoever may find this discussion in the future, the concept of "logical equivalence" was the assumption that I was missing, which led me to learning to test it via a truthtable.
... a counterexampe/ assign a false truth-value to a conditional statement ... implication table here: http://sites.millersville.edu/bikenaga/math-proof/truth-tables/truth ...
... a good laugh too. The truth about all this law/real ... some options are off the table once you decide to go ... or not, it illuminates the truth perfectly. Having lived in NYC ...