Witnesses are people that spend their own time, effort, and resources to run servers that keep the STEEM network available for everyone.
Without witnesses, there would be no STEEM that shows how important they are.
A witness earns money in the form of STEEM for every block they "witness". They get to witness more blocks by receiving more votes. The higher up the list they go, the more money they make, and the more important it is for their server to be reliable and available.
Think of a witness as being a crossing guard at a school. For a lot of the time they just sit there and wait for kids to show up. During that time, they don't do much. When the kids show up it is imperative that the crossing guard is available to help them. If the crossing guard isn't there two times in a row they get fired and have to reapply for the job. Now... Anyone can be a crossing guard. But only a select few get the majority of the shifts and thus the majority of the money. Without crossing guards kids would die. (STEEM would cease to function)
Not sure how non technical that is. The mechanics of the blockchain are hard to explain.
Thank you. That was an easy to understand, for me, explanation, haha. Thanks for all you do. I figured out how to vote and voted for you.