Hello hmflahe, perhaps you could give us some more info about your tree, geographic location, age (if you know it) health status soil type ground conditions (slope, wet boggy, dry etc..)
Generally a healthy tree will self correct any distortions in the path of growth it may have followed due to altered environmental conditions in the past. Lean alone is not by itself a cause for great concern, combine it with a 30m+ height decay at the base and ground heave with the tree over a childcare centre and yes it would be very serious grounds for concern!
If it is a question of aesthetics alone then determining what has caused the altered growth will tend to answer your question as to whether it can be straightened. In the past I have straightened numerous partially blown over trees that were young and healthy, some 4yrs later they are growing almost too well for their location!
Other than extreme wind loading the competition for light is probably the commonest cause for bent/leaning growth in otherwise healthy trees.
__________________ Sean Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran |