Yet another reason many of us want to be you Vic (fifty plussers--see the recent I'll Fly Away thread if you don't get the reference). Your grown up behavior casts a good light on the biking community and enhances our relationship with the cars and their drivers.
Personally, I come to every controlled intersection with my hand on the brake lever ready to stop. If it's empty, I ramp down to about a nanosecond's worth of track stand, likely undetectable without slow motion capture. If it has cars, I try to make eye contact. Most of the time, the driver will waive me through, in which case I'll blow by the sign. If someone, say a police officer for instance, ever challenged me on this, I'd probably play the crippled card, and point out how difficult it is to constantly stop and launch with one hand. Truth be told, it's not that hard, and if I can't follow the rules, I shouldn't be out on the road.
One exception: your reference to the fact that your good behavior momentarily inspires the same in others. For me, it's embarrassment. I don't want a fellow biker to yell at me.