Standing Rock's Sacred Land

The sacred land of the Sioux tribe is important, maybe not to some people, but for others...it depends on their beliefs and perspectives. After reading some articles, my personal view point is somewhat clouded. For every one person thinking one thing, there are at least fifty people thinking the complete opposite. The Dakota Access Pipeline versus the Sioux, which side has the right? Both sides have valid points to say, however, they both are going about the situation in a very stubborn way. Why focus on the oil, when its a nonrenewable energy source? Why does it have to be through the land? What is all the fuss about? The water line's location is "20 miles away from the pipeline's planned location" (What Those Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Don’t Tell You : snopes.com). Even with the possibility of the pipe bursting, the water should not be affected. Aside from the layout of the plans, the land itself is an "intimate connection between landscape and religion" (Here’s what no one understands about the Dakota Access Pipeline crisis - The Washington Post). Though, the subject is debatable, whose to argue with someone's belief? If anything, we wouldn't be living where we are now, if not for someone's belief in a better life, a home, a loved one, or even a person's belief in their history. The very land that people are trying to take away or defend, means nothing and everything. For the Sioux, their land is a connection to their ancestry, a connection to life, and to their culture. After all that the Indian's have been through in the past, because of the Americans, hundreds of thousands of their people have been decimated and their land minimized. Land may be just land to people who do not share the same beliefs, but to the Natives in America, land is that of a person, a living vessel. The next time sacred land comes up in conversation, I implore you to think, what does land mean to yourself, as well as to others?