witness.

Interesting word with multiple definitions most of which center around two very different ideas; one is perceiving, seeing, knowing by presence... an experience... and the other is retelling or informing that experience to others to convince them in some kind of manner of its validity. 

It's interesting that some religions picked up on the word "witness" as something its adherents should shoot for. 

It's an amazing idea if we're talking more about the first kind of witness: seeing, knowing perceiving a person and experience in its entirety. Listening. Seeing. Hearing. Observing. 

It's a pretty bad idea if we're talking more about the second kind of witness: retelling and informing someone of evidence to them. Validating. Arguing. Persuading. Talking, talking, talking.

Confusing the two seems dangerous.