In order to “opt” for the poor, one must be “non-poor.” In other words, one must be in a privileged position to choose a stance of solidarity; after all, one cannot “opt” for what one already is. In this sense, the option for the poor, as originally understood, is an opportunity for engaged compassion of the economically and socially privileged with the economically and socially marginalized.
For Earth’s Sake: Toward A Compassionate Ecology by Stephen Bede Scharper, p. 156.