The selfless, yet simple, action of a teen boy coming to the aid of a young cheerleader in need is one of the nicest things you'll read this week. 

Addie Rodriguez, a 9-year-old cheerleader, was performing at Central Catholic High School in San Antonio when the fathers of the cheerleaders joined their daughters on the sidelines for a routine. All the other girls were lifted onto the shoulders of their dads except for Rodriguez. 

But her father had a very real reason to be absent -- he's a hero to many, not just his daughter. Rodriguez's father is in the U.S. military and was training in California at the time. He has done tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"She's really tough, and she understands that dad goes away for a reason," Alexis Perry-Rodriguez, Addie's mother, told KMOV.com

Still, little Addie was crushed at that moment when everyone else's father was there and hers was not.

"I just felt really sad because I miss him a lot," she said.

That's when Matthew Garcia took action. The Central Catholic senior came down from where he was sitting, got on the field, and ran over to Rodriguez.

"I ran down from the bleachers right here, and I just hopped the fence and I went over and I kneeled down, I talked to her and I said, 'Are you OK?'" Garcia said.

Garcia lifted Rodriguez up on his shoulders like the fathers of the other girls were doing.

"I realized what he was doing, and my heart just melted," Perry-Rodriguez said. "It was just the most beautiful thing."

Rodriguez appreciated the gesture very much. Garcia was a hero himself in a small way that day.

"I thought that was so nice, especially because my dad's serving for us," Addie said.

​​By Marc Raimondi