I don't feel I owe them any more of a debt of gratitude than the local traffic warden
Given you fly "...120 sectors per year...", I would have thought you might have slightly more reason to thank security screeners than traffic wardens..but of course you are entitled to your view.
Seems to me these people get a very hard time. What are they supposed to do? They are instructed to check crews, staff and passengers alike. I think one has to accept that armed, badged and uniformed police officers have to be an obvious exception.
I suppose the other way of looking at it is to try and understand how we would all feel about flying if tomorrow, the government said "OK, no more security checks necessary and we'll save £30m a year"